Billy Burns grabs headlines from Mother Nature — A’s, Rangers tie 2-2

A rainstorm that threatened today’s A’s-Rangers game prompted Melvin to scratch center fielder Coco Crisp from the lineup and insert Burns, and all Burns did was collect two hits, two runs, two steals and two assists, throwing out runners at third and home.

Burns was asked what part of his game he was most proud of.

“I’d say I was really happy with my bunt.”

Naturally.

Say what?

“I work on that a lot. To get it in a spot I want, it’s always a plus for me. And I was happy my throws were on line.”

Burns isn’t known for his arm strength but said the Nationals, who traded him to Oakland for Jerry Blevins in December, had him work on it over the winter, including getting good jumps and quick releases.

“I think the throwing was something we didn’t expect,” Melvin said. “He gets in front of it and gets good momentum behind it. He’s accurate. So he doesn’t look to be overwhelmed by playing against big-leaguers.”

Expect a lot more of Burns this month.

“He’s been terrific, exactly what we heard,” Melvin said. “He’s played well defensively, a fearless base runner obviously, a guy that doesn’t have to square the ball up to get a hit. He’s really impressed us this camp, and he’s going to continue to get a lot of playing time.”

Melvin added, “If he didn’t play today, we might have had a little trouble, huh?”

Michael Choice doubled off Sonny Gray to open the second inning. Expect plenty of these duels in coming years now that Choice is a Ranger, dealt to Texas in the trade that sent Craig Gentry to Oakland.

“I just wanted to have fun with it,” said Choice, who was Gray’s teammate last season at Triple-A Sacramento and with the A’s in September, “not let it be a tense situation.”

Gray’s reponse: “Just another hitter to me.”

***

Despite escaping one-out, two-on jams in both of his innings, Gray was ticked off he didn’t put batters away when he had two strikes.

“My fastball was really good till I got two strikes,” he said.

To which Melvin said, ”He’s real hard on himself. He’s one guy that you don’t have to manufacture a way to motivate him. He’s a very driven kid. He has the same personality whether he’s throwing an inning in a spring training game or pitching in the playoffs, and it works very well for him.”

John Shea is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jshea@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnSheaHey